Post-secondary education is once again planned for Milton.
The Premier of Ontario was in Milton on Thursday morning to make an announcement that a joint campus for Wilfrid Laurier University and Conestoga College will be built beside the Milton Velodrome on Tremaine Road. The campus will also include a Schlegel Villages long term care facility.
“This is an exciting moment for Milton, our post-secondary, long term care, and provincial government partners,” says Mayor Gord Krantz. “Today’s provincial support announcement helps realize our vision of a complete community for the Milton Education Village. I’m delighted to see the province’s commitment to higher education and aging to address Milton’s future community needs.”
During the press conference, Milton MPP Parm Gill said that this has been more than 10-years in the making. The campus was previously planned by the Liberal Government but was put on hold by the new Ford Government back in October 2018. When asked by myFM how this differs from the previous plan, the Premier praised the work done by MPP Gill.
The Ontario Liberal Party candidate for Milton, Sameera Ali, provided myFM with the following statement in response.
“We welcome investments in our community of Milton. It should not be forgotten, however, that this College was announced previously under the Liberal Government before Doug Ford cancelled it. This is now the second time he has re-announced a college he previously cancelled and it took an ask by local council for an MZO to expedite the three lost years of opportunities for Miltonians. A year out from an election, Doug Ford has been reminded that Miltonians matter.”
The speakers at the announcement all praised Milton MPP Parm Gill for his work on making sure this campus was brought back to the forefront. He says education has been a big factor for him and Ontario’s PC Government.
“Since 2008, more than a decade, we have been waiting for a new post-secondary campus in Milton; the wait is now over. Under our government, we are building more elementary schools in Milton, more high schools, and now, two new post-secondary schools.”
The new Milton campus is expected to accommodate 6,700 students and will focus on university and college academic programs in high-demand fields such as science, health care, engineering, technology, and business. Conestoga and Laurier will also provide experiential learning and work-integrated learning opportunities for students, as well as micro-credentials that will support upskilling and reskilling for the local labour force.
Premier Ford says the expected opening date for the schools are Spring 2024. The Schlegel Villages long-term care home is expected to open in late 2023 and will provide 192 new, modern, safe and comfortable long-term care spaces in Milton. This new development moves the government a step closer to delivering 30,000 much-needed long-term care spaces over the next ten years.
There was talk of a potential hospice being included. MPP Gill and Milton Mayor Gordon Krantz both praised the hard work being done by the Townsend Smith Hospice Foundation in trying to bring a hospice to North Halton. Premier Ford touched on their Townsend Smith’s role in this possibility, as he tells myFM that having a hospice is an important aspect of the overall facility.
